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About David

David Ellis is an artist born into a family immersed in music. His brother travels the world leading a band on tenor saxophone. His uncle plays and restores pianos. His grandmother led the church choir, played pump organ in the little churches his grandfather served, and sang the jubilant songs she learned growing up in coastal South Carolina. In his youth Ellis had little patience with piano lessons or reading sheet music. Instead he absorbed everything on The Super Mix, a Saturday night radio program broadcast from the nearby Fort Bragg military base. Each week a new cassette tape of emerging New York hip-hop found its way into the life of a child growing up in a log house in North Carolina. By the time Grandmaster Flash and the Furious 5 released The Message, Ellis was writing rhymes and banging out beats with his friends on the desks at school. Things have since become much louder.

Ellis’ paintings are frequently improvised. He works directly on the walls of spaces that remain open to the public during installation and shares the making of the work with viewers. The experience is much like a band playing in front of a passing audience.

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Recommended by our guest curators

Joshua Liner

Owner, Joshua Liner Gallery

"I think David Ellis is one of the most talented artists working today. I know that's a big statement, but David just has artistry oozing out of him. He works in so many different styles and mediums, and really defines what a well rounded artist could be. Working in installation, video, sculpture, and painting, there is not much that he can't do, one way or another. He's also a living performance piece, David never ceases to amaze me. David is definitely an artist's artist and I feel the best from him is yet to come, which is incredible and in some ways scary too."